Duluth, Minnesota overwhelmed by floodwaters

DULUTH, Minn. (KARE) - The city of Duluth is in crisis mode after a deluge of rain overnight left parts of the community under floodwaters, and a number of animals at the Lake Superior Zoo dead.

Duluth PD public information office Jim Hansen says officials are working to declare a state of emergency in the city. As of 9:30 a.m. no one had been reported hurt or injured, but at least a dozen homes have been evacuated. Hansen says roads are unstable with numerous sinkholes and washouts. No travel is being advised.

Near Duluth, flooding and dangerous conditions prompted authorities to order both Jay Cooke State Park and the city of Thomson evacuated after the reservoir at Thomson overflowed.

Emergency 911 service is out in Lake County.

The crisis began after the National Weather Service indicated that more than five inches of rain fell in sheets in Duluth overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, leaving streets flooded and washed out, interstates and highways closed, and homes and basements flooded.

As much as 7.7 inches was reported in areas near Duluth. Longtime residents say they haven't seen flooding of this magnitude since 1972.

Governor Mark Dayton released a statement Wednesday morning. It reads:

This morning my thoughts are with our friends and neighbors in Duluth and the surrounding region, as they respond to major flooding. I have spoken to Duluth Mayor Don Ness and have offered all possible state assistance now and during the recovery. I will travel to Duluth tomorrow morning to discuss further how the state can help.

Emergency crews are working hard to ensure public safety, while they begin the cleanup process. If you live or were planning to travel in the Duluth area, please follow their requests to stay off of affected roads and highways. Parts of Interstate 35 and Highway 23 are presently closed, as well as various local roads and streets. Please stay safe and allow the emergency crews to do their work.

Steady, torrential rain has closed Interstate 35, stretches of Highway 61 and downtown tunnels in Duluth. Police say numerous sinkholes and washouts have made travel dangerous. Residents of the Fond du Lac neighborhood in Duluth are being asked to leave their homes because of the rising St. Louis River.

Assistant Fire Chief Marcus Harden tells our partners at KARE 11 that crews have performed emergency water rescues to pull at least three motorists from submerged cars. He says firefighters have been helping to evacuate residents from areas with no history of flooding.

Flooding kills zoo animals, seal and polar bear escape

Firefighters and police officers helped the Lake Superior Zoo staff track down animals that were unaccounted for, including a seal that was later found outside the grounds in the middle of a road.

Several animals, however, were killed.

A zoo spokeswoman says a "beloved" donkey named Ashley died as well as sheep and goats in the zoo's barnyard area. Parts of the zoo were under water, including the train depot.

The flooding enabled the zoo's polar bear, Berlin, to escape her exhibit. Police spokesman Jim Hansen says officers helped zoo staff track down the bear overnight. It was tranquilized and returned to its cage. Hansen says even though a big, white object might be easy to find in the dark, it was still unnerving for the officers.

"Obviously, our entire staff is devastated," the zoo's director of Animal Management Peter Pruett said in a news release.

One uplifting storyline involves the zoo's seal who was found outside the grounds on the side of Grand Avenue. Duluth resident Donald Melton was up late because of his newborn daughter and was checking out his Facebook page when he saw a posting by Duluth Police that a cross street near his was being closed due to flooding.

"I figured, well, the baby is sleeping," Melton says. "I will take a little ride down there and find out what's going on and see how bad it is."

A Duluth squad soon passed and he decided to follow and see where it was going. At that point, Melton noticed what he thought was an injured dog on the side of the road. He pulled over, walked over to check it out and found that the animal wasn't a dog, but a seal.

"I was a little dumbfounded," Melton laughed. "At first I had to think, 'Do we have seals? We don't have seals.'"

Eventually another motorist pulled over and the two kept watch on the wayward mammal until Duluth Fire and Rescue drove up and took the seal back to the zoo.

"I just wanted to get out and pet him, but I didn't want to mess with a wild animal either," Melton says. "I don't know what the trainers do at the zoo, but I just wanted to keep him safe."

Melton said he was glad fire crews came by because the seal never would have fit in the back of his Saturn.

"In the picture, he's kind of bug-eyed, but really he didn't look like that," Melton says. "He kind of looked like Snuffleupagus or a puppy dog. His eyelids were down most of the time. He looked pretty relaxed."